Busy Lazy

We all look for meaning in our lives, and at this time of the year we often resolve to commit to doing something about this wish. Yet our intentions so often get postponed because we are busy.

These anonymous philosophical words sum up our tendency to get so, so busy and miss life:

‘The year is long, busy people make it short
The world is vast, narrow-minded people make it small
Nature is full of beautiful things
Worriers do not see them, miss their beauty and a whole lot more!’

Are you one of those worriers? Perhaps, it is a common trait. This tendency to worry will keep us in a place of planning and restlessness. One of my wonderful teachers refers to this as being ‘busy lazy’. He says:

“Busy lazy is very simple. Thousands of people are watching rugby and next door Buddha Shakyamuni is teaching The Four Noble Truths. If you ask them ‘Do you want to attend Buddha’s teaching?’, they might say they are busy. And they sit and watch a rugby match for hours and hours. Their precious time is wasted in real terms because you cannot extend your life. You are closer in old age, you are closer to death. And your purpose for that time has been to watch someone chasing a piece of leather. This is not the meaning of life in the spiritual sense.This is trying to avoid truth.”

Will you start looking for ways to lessen that tendency to being ‘busy lazy’? A good beginning is to learn how to organise our busy minds. Mindfulness training offers skills to manage our often chaotic internal world – and this training can be life-changing. It helps us to experience space, meaning, balance, calm and kindness in our daily lives. And you can start here, right now, the links to the details of all the courses offered in 2018 are displayed in the side-bar of this newsletter. I hope to hear from you soon!